Materials manufacturer Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) has formalized two new partnerships in Singapore to advance sustainable fashion.
The first is a three-year strategic partnership with the Textile & Fashion Federation (TaFF) to advocate sustainable industry practices within Singapore and the region, through program implementation, research and education. The second is a five-year research collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) on innovation in textile recycling technology.
The RGE group of companies is involved in several business segments, including viscose fiber production through its Sateri and Asia Pacific Rayon units.
The partnership with TaFF on its fashion sustainability program launched this week. Through industry talent development and capacity building, raising corporate and consumer awareness, and innovation promotion, TaFF seeks to galvanize the fashion ecosystem toward redefining sustainable fashion.
“Our strategic partnership with RGE marks a step forward for TaFF to expand our sustainability ecosystem throughout the fashion value chain, from materials, manufacturing, brands and technology to solutions,” Wilson Teo, president of TaFF, said. “We have set up a steering committee that spans across the value chain, as a model for the industry. Together with our collaborators we will continue to equip enterprises in the journey of sustainability. We will also work with communities to build awareness in responsible consumption and recycling.”
RGE has committed to provide nearly 3 million Singapore dollars ($2.19 million) funding over three years to support TaFF’s fashion sustainability program. In addition, RGE’s vice chairman, Bey Soo Khiang, joins the program’s steering committee as its vice chairperson.
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“As a Singapore-based company and the world’s largest viscose producer, our business is well-positioned to support the country’s desire to advance sustainable development and to create a green economy,” Tey Wei Lin, president of RGE, said. “Our collaboration with TaFF and NTU is an investment of financial and other resources to create meaningful impact, not just within Singapore, but also in the region. As part of our $200 million investment commitment into next-generation textile fiber innovation and technology, we seek to work with innovators, industry partners, research institutions and academia to scale up solutions that will deliver cleaner and more circular cellulosic textile fiber to the masses at affordable prices.”
The launch of TaFF’s fashion sustainability program follows the roll-out of the Enterprise Sustainability Program (ESP) by Enterprise Singapore on Oct. 1, which supports enterprises in their sustainability initiatives and helps them capture new opportunities in the green economy.
“Industry partnerships are pertinent to uplift capabilities of enterprises,” Alan Yeo, director of retail and design at Enterprise Singapore, said. “We are very encouraged by TaFF’s efforts to drive sustainability in the textile and fashion sector as trade associations and chambers play a key role in strengthening sector-specific capabilities. Collaborations with corporate partners such as RGE will also help accelerate this process. This is a good start and we hope to eventually see more companies across all sectors start to integrate sustainability alongside their growth.”
The official launch of the research collaboration with NTU is expected to take place next year. A key goal of the collaboration is to complement RGE’s pilot urban-fit textile recycling plant in Singapore.
RGE manages a group of resource-based manufacturing companies with global operations. The assets held by RGE companies today exceed $20 billion. With more than 60,000 employees, the company has operations in Indonesia, China, Brazil, Spain and Canada.